Hello there, my name is Laura, head of brand strategy at underscore. Today I’m exploring trends in the world of supermarket retailing and how these impact on existing brands.
As the competition heats up with the introduction of left-of-field new players including savvy online retailers, aggressive international organisation and department stores with bold expansion dreams, the pressure is on for existing supermarket retailers to take a closer look at their brand strategy, brand positioning and associated offering.
But it’s not all bad news. IbisWorld (2014) are reporting that life is looking reasonably good for “supermarket land”, with 3.3% predicted growth estimated between 2014–2019. Consumer confidence is on the rise and the population is growing. This means more (but less-frugal) mouths to feed and more cash for the taking. It’s a race to see who is quick enough to capitalise on this.
Here is some food for thought to help you focus your thinking.
Online, off-line and everywhere in between
E-commerce is booming and customers are demanding more of it. It’s critical that your brand meets the expectations of your customer when it comes to your online channels. Great photography, a powerful tone of voice, a strong colour palette and a user-friendly website goes a very long way in communicating messages around quality, value and convenience.
If your operational model and supporting systems can’t stand up to the demands of a full-blown e-commerce offering, try and innovate through engaging social media and marcomms material and a cool creative app concept. Online is where smaller players can compete with big brand budgets.
Deliver the right message
In this media saturated market it’s critical to give your communications purpose. Put your customer at the center of your comms and ensure everything you say has a point; whether that be to inform, inspire, delight, reward or educate your market. It’s also important to consider existing trends when assessing your key message platform.
For example, “Going Green” continues to be hot– particularly in terms of operating models. From a brand perspective it’s essential to communicate your positioning and provide evidence to your claims i.e. a publishing a greenhouse gas report.
The obesity epidemic is also putting social and political pressure on food retailers. It’s important from a branding perspective to publicly identify with fresh food and healthy eating. Lock down a handful of strong key messages and spread them across all channels and consumer touchpoints.
Money will only get you so far
As margins on products are paper thin, competition can only be fought on price for so long. Product quality and service experience is key. Ensure you are communicating both and delivering on what you are promising.
Interestingly, if prices must rise, particularly when it comes to fresh produce, green grocers could make a come back. It’s critical to look at your local / regional brand positioning, as well as building supporting narratives around local sourcing of ingredients. Consumers value local goods and this is predicted to become increasing the case (businessinsider.com, huffingtonpost.com).
Appearance matters
Let’s face, our nature means we are drawn to good-looking things and this doesn’t stop at the supermarket deli. High quality presentation and layout is becoming increasingly important for retail companies.
More and more, we’re being drawn into brand-repositioning-meets-service-design projects here and overseas, to ensure that the brand promise we lock down in partnership with our retail clients truly matches the onsite brand experience encountered by the customer.
It’s all in the detail; how goods are packaged and displayed, where they sit and what they sit next to. Start with insight: Hire a handful of mystery shoppers and see how your goods stack up!
There is also lots of room to better engage with your customers in-store, outside of regular promotional activities. One of our recent campaign ideas for a big supermarket retailer was hosting a “meet and greet the man behind the meat” farmers market initiative in the supermarket carpark. Butcher Jo and Farmer Sam were a hit.
Your employees need creative investment too!
In a recent project with a leading UK company we identified that employees were so critical in the successful implementation of the new brand that we timed the launch perfectly to coincide with an internal training and development program on customer service. We funked things up with cool campaign imagery plastered all over the staffroom that brought the new values to life alongside creating marketing materials that ensured the team were knowledgeable and informed of product origins and ingredients.
The employees reported that this was one of the first times they had ever been treated as “important stakeholders”. Remember your front line staff are your brand advocates; the people delivering on your service promise. Happy employees = happy customers. A smile goes a long way in creating a good customer experience.